Awake at noon, which is kind of surprising since after taking that stuff apart and having a coffee, I watched some videos while I got some practice in. It's working, too. I'm getting better at playing up to high C and even above.
Last night I watched the scrap metal I left out and one of the local bums, a guy who rides around with a reflective vest and blinking lights on his bike, unusual for a bum, came by, checked it out, then sped away. Shortly he returned with a different bike with a trailer, and loaded it all in and took off. It was at least 100 lbs.
So I got up, packed some packages to take to the post office, had my coffee and chocolate, and took off for downtown at about 3:30. Ms. Crackhead was right there, messing around with her junk cars, but at least didn't try saying Hi or anything.
There's very very little traffic. It's like early Sunday morning after some big event that would have most people sleeping in. There were only a couple other customers at the downtown post office besides myself, and all the packages fit in the chute. Also, I didn't take my bike in so they didn't have that to get annoyed about. In fact, there was another bike parked at the rack in such a way that I could not lock my bike to the rack without touching it, so I put my bike next to the rack and just "locked it to itself" - it's not like there were any people around to notice anyway.
Next was the bank, and they're letting in one person at a time so I had to wait by the door then the guy let me in after trying to talk me into doing my deposit using the ATM. I might want to look into doing it that way, though. Or I might save up 2 checks and only go every other week or something. But I got my deposit done.
I rode over to Whole Foods and locked the bike there, and walked up to CVS. Of course they didn't have rubbing alcohol or Cloraseptic, but I did find some of their brand of "tussin" cough syrup which I've found useful when I was really crudded up, got a tube of Blistex, and some other thing. I looked long and hard at the booze aisle which is somewhat depleted but I noticed a lot of the cheap plastic-bottle "whiskey", "gin" etc. still there so if anyone's stocking up on booze, they're keeping up with it.
I went into the hardware store and got a gallon of Simple Green, which is the way I normally buy it anyway. There were two jugs left and I got one. I'd have gotten some batteries too but their battery prices are nuts.
I took the stuff back and stashed it and went into Whole Foods and got walnuts, the last bag of 100% cacao chocolate chips, and a couple little cartons of creamer, and $100 cash back.
It was really dead downtown with just about zero homeless/beggars/bums around, I wonder where they've gone? With so few people around I can see why they'd not waste their time begging, but I saw none of the regulars and the couple marginal looking people around were new ones to me. As I'd gone into CVS a guy with tattoos all over his face came swooping around on a fixie bike with a radio on it playing a song by a band called The Cranberries that I used to hear a ton in the 90s, and I remarked on it. It wasn't the original though, but a cover by another, guy, singer. He said the gal who sang it originally, died, and that's why there's a "tribute" version out now. He went into CVS also as we got in a conversation about Doc Martens shoes, and I told him the best place to find them is a used clothes place called Black & Brown. He thanked me for that. Maybe he's a trust-funder or maybe he lives in a culvert, but it was a nice bit of talking with someone.
I rode back along Santa Clara and just where I turn onto 3rd, there was a busker there with a boom box playing The Beatles and he was very basically drumming along with a pair of drum sticks on the sidewalk. Never seen him before.
After I passed Japantown I jogged over to 4th and stopped in at the O'Reilley's auto parts and got a couple rolls of shop towels and a little bottle of HEET which is methanol, for cleaning things. The place almost looked closed, with no cars around and I had to go up to the door to see that it was open, and another bicyclist stopped in also. It was a real ghost town.
When I pulled into this complex, loaded down with groceries and one hand on the handlebars and one holding a box from Rev-A-Shelf that's a useful size, I noticed that Ms. Crackhead has moved her junk cars to the front of the complex for some reason. Good.
I got back here and put things away, and found the three pieces of lab equipment an Ebay buyer was coming over to buy, and in fact presently he came by, and picked the pieces up. That was easy.
No comments:
Post a Comment